Pentagon Expands Plans to Militarize Silicon Valley Tech Hub

Pentagon announced it is ready to spend more on Silicon Valley's research programs, US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said at the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx) headquarters on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON, May 11 (Sputnik) — Carter said the Defense Department will open a second DIUx office in the US city of Boston.

"As a result of all of this great experience, and in view of technologies and the world’s imperative to stay agile, today we’re launching DIUx 2.0," Carter stated. "DIUx will be a nationwide release. We’re not just iterating, we’re scaling."

To increase DIUx’s capabilities, the Defense Department has requested $72 billion for research and development next year. Carter stressed that it more than double what the companies Apple, Intel and Google spent on research last year combined.

Additionally, Carter announced a new team of leaders from the technology industry, including Isaac Taylor, who was previously the head of Google’s research and development facility. The civilian leadership will be joined by US military reservists who work in the technology industry when they are not on duty for the Pentagon.

In stressing the importance of the program, Carter revealed that DIUx will begin reporting directly to him. "I can’t afford to have everybody do that, but this is to signify the importance I attach to this mission," he said.

The Defense Department created DIUx last year to boost ties between the military and high-tech companies.